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Chapter
28
Counterattack
Featherstone cursed
angrily. The thoth had disappeared
into its lair, leaving nine very frightened females in the center of the
arena. The show he had expected
had disappeared. King Desari
and the rest of the crowd were as angry as he was, but it was too late to
close the gates to the thoth’s lair.
And none of the guards was likely to want to go after the
monster. Cursing again, he rose
from his seat. There were still
a number of captive Suruani prisoners back at the
palace. He would go back and
entertain himself.
At that moment a runner arrived and rushed
over to the king. He bowed and
spoke to Desari in a low voice. The
king’s face registered surprise and he turned toward
Featherstone. “My lord,”
he said, “I have a report that the Suruani have appeared and are attempting
an attack on my city. I request
your help in its defence.”
Featherstone raised an
eyebrow. The
Suruani. He had thought them
completely defeated. It was amazing
that they had any army left at all.
Over a thousand of the women warriors had been taken prisoner and
the rest of the Suruani army had been put to
flight. In addition, their queen
had been captured and disgraced in front of the people of her
city. It was hard to believe
that they could recover so quickly, if at
all.
“How many are there?” he
asked.
“About seven hundred
lord. They are assembled outside
the main gate.”
“Seven
hundred? Why don’t you just
deal with them yourself? You
have over 2,000 warriors.”
Desari seemed
embarrassed. “My lord, the
news is very bad. Apparently,
the Suruani have recaptured their city and have slaughtered the warriors
I stationed there. I have only
a thousand men to face the enemy.”
Featherstone tried to be
patient. He had not counted on
being called on whenever the Lelawabi monarch needed
help. A thousand warriors should
have been more than enough to deal with the seven hundred Suruani who threatened
the city, especially fighting from a defensive
position. But he still needed
the king’s help if he was to succeed in his mission and he rather liked
playing the role of the all-powerful white
god. He nodded his assent and
called to Stoddard. “Round
up the rest of the men. We have
a few minutes work to do.”
It was as Desari had
described. Arrayed several hundred
yards from the main gates of the city were row upon row of female
warriors. His eyes swept over
Stoddard and the rest of his men.
There were only four of them, but their weapons had been more than
enough to route the Suruani before.
The gates opened and the Lelawabi army poured
out. Featherstone nodded to
Stoddard. The battle plan was
simple. The Lelawabi would charge
toward the Suruani, but just before the armies clashed, his men would decimate
the front ranks of the Suruani with rifle and automatic weapons
fire. That would break the resistance
of the female warriors and the Lelawabi would have little to do other than
chase after the fleeing women, killing and capturing as many as
possible.
Featherstone nodded and Stoddard took aim
with his Lee-Enfield. The rest
of his men raised their weapons.
Suddenly, Stoddard stiffened, a look of surprise on his face, and
then without a sound dropped off the
wall. At that moment the sound
of the shot that had killed him sounded from beyond the ranks of the Suruani
army. Then the man next to Stoddard
jerked as a second bullet struck.
Featherstone gaped and then ducked instinctively, as the sound of
several other shots sounded. The
firing continued, but no bullets came his way, instead they were directed
into the Lelawabi warriors who were moving toward the Suruani
army.
It took a moment for the Lelawabi to realize
that it was they who were being fired upon, and then they wavered under the
unfamiliar assault. At that point
every Suruani warrior surged forward.
A few Lelawabi rallied to meet the attack, but the rest
broke. Inside the city other
warriors rushed to close the gates before the fierce attackers could gain
the entrance. The warriors outside
were trapped, and a hideous slaughter
began.
Desari turned to Featherstone, his eyes wide
with doubt and fear. “What
has
happened?
Why were your warriors struck down?”
Featherstone did not
answer. Instead he peeked over
the wall to watch what was happening
outside. The Suruani were right
up to the wall now. Not one of
the warriors that had been trapped outside the wall was
alive. Several hundred feet away,
beyond the surging tide of females he could see where the shots had come
from. There were at least three
marksmen and even as he looked, one of them drew a bead on his head and squeezed
off a shot. He ducked again just
in time. Cursing, he scrambled
off the wall, ignoring Desari who shouted something after
him. It was time to get as far
away from the danger that threatened him as
possible.
He dashed into the streets, heading away from
the main gate, but had to fight his way through hundreds of panic-stricken
Lelawabi women and children who were rushing in the opposite
direction. He ducked into a doorway
and stopped to assess the situation.
This did not make sense. Why
would the inhabitants of the city run toward the
enemy? Then he understood the
reason. Pushing down the street
were scores of Suruani warriors.
And what was even more remarkable, they were led by Queen Takla herself,
and right behind her was
His eyes wide with disbelief, Featherstone
ducked back, but he was already too late.
A cry went up from the surging warriors indicating that he had been
seen. Quickly he dashed back
out into the street and reversed his direction for a few yards before ducking
down a side street. As he ran
he managed to puzzle out what had
happened. There must have been
two groups of Suruani, one that attacked by way of the main gate and a smaller
group that had circled the city and attacked from the other
direction. With almost every
Lelawabi gathered to repel the main force, this second group had met little
opposition and had overrun the city’s defences and broken into the city,
trapping the Lelawabi between two groups of
attackers. The battle was all
but over. There was nothing left
but to save himself.
The street he was running down ran to the
stadium. He had not thought much
about where he was going, but the stadium was as good a refuge as
any. It was large enough that
if he could get inside, he might be able to shake his pursuers and find his
way out of the city. He darted
into the dark entrance of the stadium, breathing
heavily. He was not used to this
much exertion, but he did not stop
running. The sounds of pursuit
were very close. Ahead of him
was a short flight of stairs, leading up to the
seats. He took it, and then jumped
over the railing to the floor of the
arena.
It was a drop of some fifteen feet, but somehow
he managed it without breaking an ankle.
He ran close to the wall, hoping to stay out of
sight. Behind him, he could hear
voices as the woman warriors followed him into the
stadium. He needed to find some
other place to hide. Just ahead
of him was the entrance to the tunnel into which the thoth had taken its
victim. In desperation, he headed
into it. He found himself in
blackness. Ahead of him he could
hear a noise, the sound of a woman sobbing in pain and
terror. More slowly now, he proceeded
up the tunnel. About thirty feet
in he passed a small side passage sealed by a small
door. Hardly daring to hope,
he tried the latch and found that it
opened. It was a tight squeeze,
too small for the thoth to get into, which probably explained why it was
not locked. Inside, he found
himself in a narrow tunnel.
Astounded by his good fortune, he pulled the door closed, and then
cautiously moved off into the darkness.
Cymari screamed in absolute terror as the
tip of the thoth’s enormous phallus began to part her tiny
anus. Such an invasion would
fatally mutilate her. She knew
that she was about to die. Then
suddenly, there was a scream even louder than hers and the pressure on her
backside disappeared. She found
herself lying on the cold floor of the thoth’s
lair. Still in great pain from
the thoth’s first session with her, she managed to raise her
head. She beheld a sight that
amazed her.
The thoth was screaming in pain and rage,
while before it danced the white-skinned female demon that had almost beaten
the monster a few days ago before being caught and
ravaged. This time the demon
seemed to have the upper hand. The
thoth had been pierced through the back by a spear that had been thrust a
good foot and a half into the monster’s
body. The demon lunged
in. Ducking beneath the thoth’s
flailing arms with what seemed superhuman speed, she drove a second spear
deep into the slavering beast’s
chest. The thoth jerked back
so suddenly, that the spear was torn from the demon’s grasp, but the
thoth was finished. Bloody foam
bubbled from its jaws. Its screams
died as it sank to its knees and pitched forward onto its face and lay
still.
Cymari lay wide eyed with fear as the demon
approached her. She was too battered
to attempt to escape or fight back.
Bravely, she prepared herself for death.
“Are you
alright?” Cymari almost
fainted from shock. The demon’s
voice was soft and gentle. Hardly
able to believe that she was alive, she was too astounded to even moan as
the demon tenderly lifted her into a sitting
position. Then the second demon
was there, holding a waterskin to her
lips. Cymari drank
weakly. A few seconds later several
of her sisters entered the thoth’s
lair. Several of them came to
her side and took over from the demon.
Cymari closed her eyes. She
was safe. She would rest now,
but she would remember the demon.
Larra stood up as Melissa moved next to
her. “Did you see which
way Featherstone went?”
Melissa shook her
head. “I thought he came
this way. There were a few side
doors in the passage, maybe he slipped into one of
them.”
“I’m going to see how the battle
is going,” said Larra.
“I suspect Takla has it well in hand, but I better be there to
make sure she doesn’t decide to slaughter every single Lelawabi she
gets her hands on. You stay here
and see if you can find some trace of Featherstone, but be very
careful. He’s a pretty slippery
customer.”
“Alright,” said
Melissa. “And you
be careful too.”
Larra
smiled. Wrenching her spear from
the body of the thoth she made her way back down the passage to the
arena.
Melissa hefted her
spear. There had not been enough
firearms to go around, and so she and Larra had armed themselves like the
Suruani. The spear was not a
weapon Melissa was familiar with, but it gave her some sense of confidence
as she turned down the passage to look for the elusive
Englishman.
Halfway back toward the arena entrance she
came across a small door. It
seemed as good a place to start looking as
any. Trying the latch, she found
it unlocked and pulled it open.
Inside was a dark passage.
She stepped back. There
was no way that she was going in there without a light and a few
companions. She had spotted some
torches in sconces on the walls on the way in, so she turned back to get
one. On the way to the torch
she stopped two of the Suruani warriors.
Her command of the language was not as good as Larra’s, but she
made them understand that they were to come with
her. Then retrieving the torch,
she lit it using a box of matches Lemaire had given her and returned to the
passage.
The three women entered, Melissa
leading. The passage was so narrow
that they were forced to go single file.
It went on for about fifty paces before it ended in a T
intersection. If Featherstone
had come this way, which way had he gone?
She studied the floor. The
passage was disused and a layer of dust covered the stone
floor. Clearly marked in the
dust were Featherstone’s boot
prints. They headed toward the
left and the outside of the stadium.
Sensing that her quarry was near, Melissa hurried down the
passage. The narrow corridor
made several twists and turns, and then it began to
dip. Without hesitation, Melissa
followed it. After ten minutes
of walking she realized that the passage must extend beyond the
stadium. Where it was going,
she did not know, but she stuck with it.
Then she noticed that her torch was beginning to
die. It had almost burned
out. Stopping she indicated to
one of the women that she should go back and get a few more
torches. They dared not go on
without one. Crouching, she waited
in the darkness, hoping that her torch would not burn out before the Suruani
warrior returned.
Featherstone felt his way down the dark
passage. He was forced to move
slowly, because he was in complete
darkness. He
cursed. He should have looked
for a torch before entering the passage.
However, there had been little time for
that. He could only hope that
he was not overtaken before he reached some sort of safe
place. And then from behind him
he heard a faint sound. He
turned. A faint light glimmered
in the tunnel. He broke out into
a cold sweat. His pursuers were
closing in. Desperately, he quickened
his pace, hoping that he would not stumble into anything dangerous, but the
light behind him grew brighter as the people following him closed
in. Then suddenly, the passage
seemed to end. The wall on either
side of him disappeared. Fumbling
around in the dark, he was able to determine that he had come to another
intersection. Quickly he ducked
around the corner. He drew his
pistol. Perhaps a few shots in
the directions of his pursuers would slow them up.
Peeking back around the corner he saw that
the light had stopped moving. In
the flickering torchlight he could see three
figures. His eyes
widened. One of them was the
chestnut-haired bitch that had given him so much pleasure when he raped
her. As he watched one of the
women moved back down the passage.
That left only two. He
held his breath and watched. Both
women were crouched down waiting..
He wondered what was going on and then the torch winked
out. Of course, the torch had
burned down and they had sent the third woman back for more
light. This was too good to be
true. With a smile on his face,
he inched back through the darkness, toward the unsuspecting
females.
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